Arab Americans with psychological stress

• April 25, 2024

The American Arab population has been targeted by more than 700 violent incidents in the United States after the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, according to investigations by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

Various studies developed by the American Journal of Public Health they show that there is a prevalence of abuses and acts of discrimination against Arab Americans from the terrorist attacks that took place almost a decade ago. Such behavior creates, in this specific population, psychological stress , lower levels of happiness and lower levels of quality in health.

The data collected by the Public Health Journal of the United States, through face-to-face tests with a representative Arab American population of adults, show that 25% reported personal or family abuse, 15% claimed to have personal problems or bad experiences related to their ethnicity, with a higher rate presented among Muslims than with Christians.

After considering socio-economic and demographic factors, the study indicates that the abuses committed after September 11 are directly related to higher levels of psychological stress and worse sanitary conditions in the population studied. Also, it was identified the perception of not being respected in the society of the resident country (E.U.A.) and a greater concern in security issues, which causes deterioration in mental health.

The need for mental health resources for the Arab American community on a large scale, is documented since the tragedy of World Trade Center. Currently there are many local agencies and organizations that respond to the need by providing informal services of mental health . However, the quality of these programs has not been evaluated by professionals.